Memory Lane, Roles Reversed
A Missing Scene from Nuisance
By Showfan06
1Disclaimer: I don't own the guys from Emergency so please don't sue me. I promise to put them back in one piece when I'm done with them.
Authors Note: This was written to serve the injustice of editing. My friends challenged me to write the missing ambulance scene from the episode "Nuisance" and I said sure. So here it goes. Mary Ann, Dawn, thanks for the encouragement. Hope you like the story. This picks up just after the ambulance leaves the scene.
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The stunned, angry, scared engine crew watched with Officer Vince Howard as the ambulance barreled into the night with lights and sirens going.
Vince was the first to find his voice, "I promise you guys, we will find whoever did this and bring him to justice."
The usually quiet Mike Stoker solemnly said, "Vince, let's just pray you're not adding vehicular homicide charges to that list."
Mike's words made each man present shudder. Johnny was in extremely bad shape, and while nobody wanted to say it out loud, they all knew there was a chance they could very well lose the youngest member of A shift.
Captain Hank Stanley's stomach turned when he looked down at the medical litter still lining the area where the crew had worked feverishly on Johnny. Quietly, he said, "Come on boys, let's get this stuff cleaned up."
Dutifully the men went about the job of cleaning up the scene. Marco said, "Cap, it's not fair, man. It's not fair."
Hank swallowed hard, Marco had hit the proverbial nail on the head. "I know it isn't Marco, good lord knows I know it isn't."
Mike walked over and climbed back into Big Red as the others discarded the trash. Just as the rest of the crew was about to climb back aboard the engine Mike whispered a small prayer, "Hang in there Johnny, fight and fight hard." As Mike finished the others were aboard and the engine took off from the dreadful scene, none of them would soon forget.
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In the ambulance, Johnny shivered in pain, under the many layers of emergency blankets. Roy busied himself, carefully monitoring Johnny's still unstable vital signs.
Johnny spoke in pain, "P-Pally."
Roy quickly focused on Johnny, as he fought back memories of just two years prior. "Easy Junior, what do you need?"
"I…it's…getting…harder…to…breathe."
Johnny's face was filled with fear as Roy adjusted the oxygen flow rate to his mask. Roy asked, "Is that any better?"
Johnny took a breath, "Yeah."
"Good."
Johnny reached for his best friend and "older brother's" hand. Roy gripped Johnny's hand with a confidence he didn't exactly feel. "Hang in there for me partner. Everything is going to work out."
Johnny's voice was full of fear, "Roy, I'm in so much pain…and so scared. I hurt…from my hair to my toes and everywhere in between… inside and out."
Roy checked the monitor again; Johnny wasn't doing well, but was still hanging on. "I know Junior, I know."
Then Johnny said the one thing that told Roy they were reliving the same call. Johnny's voice cracked in pain and full of emotion, "Partner, I don't want to be Drew." Johnny gasped. "I may not have a wife and kids but I have you, Jo, the kids, the guys…I have a family that I don't want to leave yet."
Johnny shuddered as yet another wave of pain hit him. He shut his eyes tight, trying to will the pain away. Roy's voice cracked as his eyes clouded with tears. He held a bit tighter on to Johnny, to offer what comfort he could. "Johnny, we don't want you to leave yet either, fight for me, fight for all of us."
Johnny lapsed into unconsciousness. Roy broke his grip to take another set of vitals and grimaced, the news wasn't good. Johnny's vitals were now: BP 90 over 60. Pulse of 140 and thready. Respirations shallow at 28. His pupils were sluggish but responding.
Roy turned toward the cab of the ambulance, "Step on it! I don't want to be running a code by the time we get there." Roy's weight shifted as the ambulance driver tried to put the pedal through the floor.
Roy turned back to his friend. Johnny, "Johnny, can you hear me?" His partner didn't respond. Roy tried again, "Come on partner, open your eyes." Still nothing. Roy then did a sternal rub, that elicited a painful moan, but his best friend still didn't reopen his eyes.
Roy was about to call and request another bag of saline when the bullet of a rig barreled into Rampart's emergency entrance. Roy said, "Hang in there Junior, we're at Rampart."
As soon as the ambulance was stopped, Roy and the attendant quickly unloaded Johnny. Looking down at his best friend's unmoving body as he wheeled him inside, Roy couldn't help but think, 'God I hope we're not to late.'